About the Internet Society 

Board of Trustees

ISOC Meetings - November 16 - 17, 2002

ISOC Code of Conduct Progress Report

Brian Carpenter (convenor, UK/Switzerland), Rosa Delgado (Peru/Switzerland), Jim Galvin (US), Jean-Claude Guédon (France/Canada), Jiwoong Lee (Korea)

As requested in the June Board meeting, we have drafted an ISOC Code of Conduct. The version attached below has been revised following comments from the Board, the Chapter Delegates, and the Advisory Council. We are not requesting final approval from the Board at this time, but we are requesting the Board's agreement to proceed with a final comment period.

Comments were received from at least 15 sources, the large majority of which were positive and constructive, and have been carefully considered in producing the version below. Of course, not all comments have resulted in changes to the text, especially when conflicting comments were received or we judged that the comments were out of scope for a members’ Code of Conduct. However, the Board should be aware that a few negative comments were received, along two lines:

• That the ethical complications of a Code of Conduct are too subtle to quickly reach a single text that will be internationally acceptable. The source of this comment is Prof. Jacques Berleur, of Namur, who has been involved in IFIP’s work on the ethics of computing for many years.
• About four people commented that ISOC simply should not be creating a Code of Conduct or that the Code will be ineffective or irrelevant.
  Our view is that these negative comments do not outweigh the many positive ones and that we should proceed.

However, assuming the Board wishes to proceed and agrees with the revised draft below, we recommend requesting a final round of comments from the Chapter delegates, to ensure that we have as wide a consensus as possible. We also feel that unofficial translations into several languages should be made available for this if possible. Following this, we would submit a final version for formal approval by the Board.

After approval, the Code (in English and several translations) will need to go on the ISOC web site, be drawn to the attention of existing members, and made "required reading" during the registration process for future members.

We draw the Board’s attention to the following points. In particular, items 4 and 9 in the draft Code produced the most comments.

• Item 4 specifically identifies the IETF as the primary source of technical principles. It was suggested that we should include other standards bodies. However, we feel that only the IETF is closely enough linked to ISOC to be certain that its principles are aligned with ours.
• Item 4 includes the sentence “In particular, avoid technologies that tend to subdivide access to the Internet rather than preserving its universal, unique, and international nature, except as required by security mechanisms.” Four comments received from industry sources objected to this sentence (in a previous, simpler form) on the grounds that it might appear to deprecate corporate firewalls or separate 3G networks. However, we feel that the principle is important and should be stated. We certainly intend to deprecate “walled gardens” and politically motivated content filtering. The sentence has been tuned as a result of these comments.
• In item 9, the words “objectionable” and “unwanted” were criticised on the grounds that there may be cases where lawyers (for example) need to send messages that the recipient will not like. But in the context of etiquette the text seems appropriate. There were also suggestions to remove the entire text of item 9 except the first phrase, on freedom of speech grounds, but this was a minority comment.
• The item “Respect applicable local laws and customs” has been deleted, since several comments pointed out that in some countries, local laws and customs might be antithetical to ISOC’s principles. As a result, specific mention of fraud and deception has been added to item 9, but there is now no text covering corruption or anti-competitive behaviour (which we suggest is outside ISOC’s scope). However, the committee was not unanimous on this deletion.
• The sentence “In extreme cases, disclose such breaches [of the code] to the persons adversely affected” has been deleted from item 14, since it can be read to encourage denunciation, which in some countries can have serious personal consequences. A few comments suggested making reference to open standards, intellectual property, or usability issues; we felt these were out of scope for an individual members’ Code of Conduct. We did not implement one comment that the Code contains too many items, some of which are not specific to the Internet. Although in principle “smaller is better” we feel all the items are of importance, especially to members for whom ISOC may be their only professional association.

Code of Conduct for Individual Members of the Internet Society

--- DRAFT November 2002 ---

Original version is in English.

Note- there are too many small changes from the previous version for change bars to be useful. Please read this as a complete new text.

Purpose

The Internet Society's motto, for many years, has been "The Internet is for Everyone." As the Internet indeed penetrates into every corner of human society and of the economy, members of the Internet Society (ISOC) have a responsibility to demonstrate the standards of behaviour that are appropriate to continued growth and beneficial use of the Internet. People designing, building and operating Internet services, or simply using the Internet as a major tool in everyday life and work, need to adopt standards of behaviour like those of any profession. We build bridges and buildings to stand for at least 100 years, resisting natural and man-made disasters as far as possible, and to be useful for applications beyond their original design. Despite its rate of change, the Internet should be the same. Also, it should be deployed for the benefit of individuals and society, and Internet professionals have a consequent personal responsibility. Similarly, people simply using Internet services have a corresponding responsibility to avoid misuse.

The purpose of this code of conduct is to indicate the standard of professional behaviour to which ISOC members aspire, and which is intended to be an example to Internet professionals as a whole. It can be used by members to measure their own behaviour, and as a reference when considering the behaviour of others. The items in the code are intended to be as close as possible to observable or measureable behaviours, rather than requiring subjective or ethical judgement.

The code serves to define a form of professional identity. Although many aspects also apply to every user of the Internet, it is intended to give ISOC members a sense that they belong to a community with shared values and shared responsibilities.

The Code of Conduct

— When designing, implementing, operating and using Internet technology and services,

— when formulating or influencing relevant policies, laws, and regulations,

— and in all professional and personal dealings

an ISOC member will

1. Take all reasonable care to ensure that his or her work and the products of his or her work cause no avoidable danger or personal harm to any person.
2. Take all reasonable steps to minimise waste of natural resources, damage to the environment, and damage to products of human skill and industry.
3. If his or her professional advice is not accepted, take all reasonable steps to ensure that all persons neglecting or over-ruling this advice are aware of the possible danger or damage which may result.
4. Avoid deploying technologies that defeat generally accepted technical principles of the Internet, as documented primarily by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). In particular, avoid technologies that tend to subdivide access to the Internet rather than preserving its universal, unique, and international nature, except as required by security mechanisms.
5. Pay particular attention to the security of Internet services, to protect against disaster and against a physical or electronic attack, and to protect the integrity and privacy of stored or transmitted information.
6. Take all reasonable steps, including education and the wide spreading of knowledge, to ensure the Internet can be available, accessible, and useful to everyone.
7. Only offer or claim to offer opinions or services that lie within the member's actual knowledge or competence.
8. In the case of financial or material conflict between personal and professional interests, or between two professional interests, declare this conflict to all interested parties and if appropriate in public.
9. Respect the generally accepted norms of Internet etiquette for human communications, especially by avoiding communications that are false or are regarded by their recipients as discourteous, objectionable, malicious, unwanted, or causing loss of prestige. Avoid fraudulent or deceptive statements.
10. Respect the rights of all Internet users to privacy of, and freedom of access to, information and communication; promote these rights within the limits of his or her power.
11. Treat all users and colleagues fairly and on equal terms.
12. Respect legitimate intellectual property rights, do not plagiarize the work of others, and give credit to the originators of ideas.
13. Encourage others to follow this code of conduct, and discourage breaches of this code. Offer and accept honest and constructive criticisms of opinions and work as they relate to this code.
14. Not associate with, and not allow ISOC's name to be associated with, persons or organizations consistently in breach of this code.